


Brazen (or not)

by surefireshore



Series: SurefireShore's Writuary 2020 [2]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22092637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surefireshore/pseuds/surefireshore
Summary: Combeferre stumbles across Eponine in a low moment. He does what he can.
Relationships: Combeferre & Éponine Thénardier
Series: SurefireShore's Writuary 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589320
Kudos: 5
Collections: Writuary 2020





	Brazen (or not)

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate title: Me, blatantly ignoring the prompt in favor of what is quite frankly some self-insert hurt/comfort because i had a rough day. Have some Eponine & Combeferre origin story.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t – “

“No, it’s fine. Come in.”

Combeferre and Eponine weren’t exactly friends. He . . . knew her, but couldn’t say he’d had the privilege of truly conversing with her. So, to find her seated in the back room of the Musain alone when he had expected no one was a little disquieting. And she still had the bag she always brought to the meeting. It seemed that she had never left the room nor moved. Nonetheless, he stepped forward into the room, slid the chair across from her back, and lowered himself down.

The room was quiet. Their society meeting had ended at two and it was now nearing five, so Combeferre had assumed everyone would have filed out by now. Even if they hadn’t, Eponine was usually one of the ones to clear out first. He had expected to complete his assignments in peace. So not only was Eponine’s presence strange, but her demeanor was as well. She seemed smaller than she usually looked. The slope of her hunched shoulder led his eye down her arm to where her hands were sitting in her lap, completely still.

He wasn’t sure whether to breach the subject with her. Also, now that he was sitting, he wasn’t sure whether he should’ve sat at all. _In for a penny,_ he thought.

“Eponine, are you – ?“ Her glare stunned him into silence before her gaze flicked back down to her wrists. Still, her eyes seemed full of shame where he was used to seeing the opposite.

“It’s just that,” he continued until pausing to give her a second to protest again. “It’s just that you’re usually so…”

“Disruptive?” She interrupted, leaning forward. “Grating?” Some of the rage was back in her eyes again.

He paused again. “I was going to say brazen.”

She huffed. “Let’s just say today hasn’t been a brazen today.” Her gaze returned to her hands and her chair creaked as she leaned back and crossed her legs.

“I see,” Combeferre replied. “Well, I’m going to be in the corner studying if you need…” – He trailed off, uncertain what to offer – “a friend.”

His chair screeched across the floor as he stood up, grabbed his laptop bag, and retreated to the corner by the window.

For a while, there was only the sound of his keyboard clacking and his pages flipping. The occasional car passing by outside. People shouting to their friends. At one point, someone dropped a dish in the main room.

Several minutes after that, Eponine rose and shuffled across the room with her bag. She cleared her throat and slid into the chair across from him. He looked up, expecting her to say something, but she just pulled out a book and kept her gaze low.

She cleared her throat and whispered, “Thanks.”

Combeferre nodded and they sat together in silence until long after the sky grew dark.


End file.
